Against the Tide: Youth revive handloom weaving

Technology and Culture, 2018

Handloom weaving is the second most important livelihood in rural India after farming. Improving handloom technologies and practices thus will directly affect the lives of millions of Indians, and this is similar for many other communities in the global South and East. By analyzing handloom weaving as a socio-technology, we will show how weaving communities are constantly innovating their technologies, designs, markets and social organization—often without calling it innovation. This demonstration of innovation in handloom contradicts the received image of handloom as a pre-modern and traditional craft that is unsustainable in current societies and that one therefor needs to get rid of: by mechanization and/or by putting it into a museum. With this research we seek to address three related issues. The first is to deepen our theoretical understanding of innovation by exploring it in supposedly non-innovating contexts, second is the relevance of history of technology for understanding handloom and indeed other crafts as sophisticated socio-technologies. The third is to explore how this broadening of the concept of innovation can inform an inclusive politics of development that positions craft within the innovation framework, rather than in the discourse of traditional technology in need of modernization or preservation. We show how innovations are shaped in interactions between individuals across different user groups and communities by describing the socio-technical ensemble of handloom weaving. This allows us to identify product, market and process innovations in handloom. These innovations include the use of mobile phones to innovate new markets, and the use of computers to speed up calculative functions so that slower and more skilled work can be taken up by weavers, while keeping the product cost-effective.

Comparative Studies of South Asia, Africa and Middle East, 2019

Abstract Handloom weaving in India is a vibrant and dynamic craft-based technology that is more than two thousand years old. It is the second-largest provider of rural livelihoods, with a 10 percent share of the domestic textile market, unified under the cultural brand of “handloom.” Yet weavers, like other craftspeople in India, stand in the shadow of deep divisions: rich/poor, urban/rural, modern/traditional, Brahmin/Dalit, educated scientist/illiterate laborer. As a system of knowledge, handloom weaving is associated with a museumized past rather than a promising future; the weaver is seen as a laboring body rather than an innovative mind. Yet through theorizing handloom weaving as sociotechnology, this essay endeavors to explicate the sustainability and innovation in handloom weaving. Studying examples of innovation in handloom weavers, the essay explores craft livelihoods as offering the opportunity for political action: as a unifying device for cultural cohesion, as embodied knowledge that engages both mind and body, and as a tool for justice and equity.

Traditional Indian handloom enjoys a global reputation as well as huge demands in the local markets. However, the weavers face a number of challenges which affect their livelihood and overall wellbeing. Weaving practiced in India has been in existence for more than 5000 years. It is also found in Ramayana and Mahabharata that speak about length of craft. India has a rich cultural heritage of Handloom Industry having the largest Handloom Industry in the world. Thus it also makes major contribution to the economy. The study aims to analyse the socio economic condition of the weavers and offer possible recommendations to mitigate their plight. This study is based on primary data collected through interview schedules 57 active societies in Warangal district of Telangana State. The result of the study revealed that the weavers are facing a number of challenges like financial constraint, inability to purchase up-to-date machineries, poor working condition, meagre remuneration and the absence of government support. Key words: Handloom, Weavers, Socio-economic conditions.

Traditional Indian handloom enjoys a global reputation as well as huge demands in the local markets. However, the weavers face a number of challenges which affect their livelihood and overall wellbeing. Weaving practiced in India has been in existence for more than 5000 years. It is also found in Ramayana and Mahabharata that speak about length of craft. India has a rich cultural heritage of Handloom Industry having the largest Handloom Industry in the world. Thus it also makes major contribution to the economy. The study aims to analyse the socio economic condition of the weavers and offer possible recommendations to mitigate their plight. This study is based on primary data collected through interview schedules 57 active societies in Warangal district of Telangana State. The result of the study revealed that the weavers are facing a number of challenges like financial constraint, inability to purchase up-to-date machineries, poor working condition, meagre remuneration and the absence of government support.

This paper discusses fashion's relationship with traditional craft in India, focusing on the handloom industry in Maheshwar, a small town in Madhya Pradesh state. The organisation Women Weave, founded by Sally Holkar in 2003, has moved away from the silk, cotton and zari (metallic yarn) fabrics and saris that Maheshwar is known for, and is producing its own form of khadi (hand-spun, hand-woven yarn), popular in high-end Indian and global fashion. A recent initiative of Women Weave is The Handloom School (THS), which teaches weavers from different parts of India business, design IT and communication skills with a view to enabling them to connect directly with a high-end luxury market. The school is in its early stages and the curriculum is continuously being revised and adapted. My recent ethnographic fieldwork in Maheshwar and other weaving regions in India has involved learning about the experiences of some of the students and graduates of THS over the past three years. This paper will draw upon these experiences, while presenting some of the challenges the school is facing amidst a broad and lively debate on craft in India within the development, anthropological, design history and material culture discourses.

Nottingham Trent University, 2018

This research critically analyses the recent development of design education for traditional artisans in rural India. It focuses specifically on handloom weaving, which, across rural India is the second largest source of employment after agriculture. Handloom, however, continues to be afflicted by low wages and viewed as skilled labour rather than as a creative profession. The 'informal' embodied knowledge of weavers is widely devalued against 'formal' knowledge gained through school and university education as well as government skill development schemes. A lively discourse currently exists around the problematic divides between urban-educated designers and the artisans who simply execute the work of designers and are excluded from, or unable to access urban design institutes. In this discourse, weavers continue to be perceived as 'artisans' and never as designers, leaving little room to bridge this gap. In the last decade, two educational institutes have been established that challenge this dualism as well as the hierarchies that have formed between the 'artisan' and 'designer': Somaiya Kala Vidya (SKV) in Kachchh district, Gujarat, and the Handloom School (THS) in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh; each forms a focused case study for this research. Both institutes aim to nurture innovation and entrepreneurship, to enable artisans to connect directly with growing luxury markets for authentic, ethical and high-quality craft. Using multi-sited, ethnographic case study methodology, I captured the lived experiences of student and graduate weavers, faculty, staff, founder-directors and other stakeholders of the institutes, to measure the successes and challenges of the two institutes against their stated aims, as well as those of the handloom community and the state. By specifically inter-referencing craft development and education, previously treated as distinct areas, I have aimed to understand the relevance, sustainability and value of handloom in India for the weavers and for contemporary markets. Findings show that design and business education enhances the creative and aspirational capabilities of artisans, as well as their cultural, social and economic capital, as they mobilise within the now globalised spaces of the village and market network. Uncertainties

This paper discusses the paradigms, aims and methodologies of my PhD research which I began in October 2014. The handloom industry in India currently employs over 4 million people and continues to be an important part of the economy, social life and identity of traditional weaving communities all over India. Following a series of declines over the course of the last century, due to industrialisation and imitated imports flooding local markets amongst other factors, recent development initiatives are helping to position these crafts in high-end urban and international markets. A new approach to craft development has been design and business education for artisans This research focuses on two case studies of education institutes, unique in India for providing long-term formal education for rural artisans: Somaiya Kala Vidya (SKV) in Kachchh, Gujarat, and the Handloom School in Maheshwar, Madhya Pradesh. SKV is sensitive to local methods, scale of craft production and traditions. The Handloom School invites weavers from all over India via local NGOs. Both institutions aim to enable artisans to connect directly with high-end clients. The research addresses a number of questions, including: how do educators and artisans balance local knowledge with contemporary design and business concepts? Who owns traditional and other designs? What is the value of handloom fabrics amongst both the weavers and the market? This paper discuses the research to date and the approaches employed to analyse the effectiveness of these institutions in nurturing innovation and entrepreneurship in the handloom sector, and to what extent they enable artisans to design and make craft products attuned to the demands of the contemporary market.

2016

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He has qualified UGC-NET and GATE test. His research interest includes-Sociology of education, study of indigenous community, cottage industry, entrepreneurship and gender study.

Abstract India is the centre for handloom as well as textiles and has a rich cultural legacy and ethnic traditions. After agriculture; hand looming has been a significant economic activity. Over the past few decades, there has been a significant shift in Indian society and the economy. Weaving artistry into the strands and turning them into wearable masterpieces is an ancient custom. However, for a variety of reasons, these cultures have lost their face value over time, and the weavers' financial situation has steadily gotten worse. The socio-economic status of handloom weavers, their issues, and the difficulties they face in carrying on the tradition are briefly reviewed in this work. The study ends with some recommendations based on the literature review related to the handloom. Keywords: Handloom, weavers, culture, challenges